FiberEUse – New circular economy solutions for the reuse of end-of-life fiber reinforced composites
Set on over 200m2 of the Gallery area of Superstudio Più, FiberEUse is a totally circular exhibition that closes an European project lasted 4 years and presents the final results of the research coordinated by the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Politecnico of Milan.
In a world where sustainability is a daily topic, the Discovering section of Superdesign Show presents a project that represents in an absolutely complete way the feasibility of a transition to the circular economy, materials reuse in a perspective of total sustainability.
Following a circular path visitors will have the opportunity to know the process and the results of FiberEUse project which, involving 21 Partners from different fields and 7 European states, have studied the need and the great opportunity related to the reuse and the regeneration of composite materials such as reinforced plastic with fiberglass and carbon fiber.
Once their life-cycle is terminated, these materials, which are widely used in the manufacturing industry (from the automotive to sports equipment, from the construction and transports industry to that of wild turbines) end up filling landfills, increasing the amount of waste that cannot be disposed of in an extremely significant way. The regeneration of these materials traces an innovative path and a completely different destiny that embraces sustainability. It is a demanding challenge of which FiberEUse project demonstrates the feasibility thanks to a series of steps that include mechanical recycling, thermal recycling and the industrial processing of regenerated composite materials to produce new objects in a continuous (circular) cycle where nothing is thrown and design is an integral part of this multisectoral approach.
In the installation designed by Origoni Steiner and presented at Superdesign Show, visitors will follow a path where, starting from the composite materials commonly considered at the end of their life, life resumes, through the process of regeneration and design with which the FiberEUse network has developed a collection that strongly exemplifies the potential of this circular approach.
From the wine rack to the bench, from the ski to the customize furniture element, from interior coverings to lamps, passing through different automotive components, the quantity and quality of uses and reuses is here really told and produced. Because there is no sustainability without real feasibility.